


come closer (show the marks upon your skin)

by winter_hiems



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Image, Comfort, Don't copy to another site, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fix-It, Hand Kisses, Holding Hands, Hurt/Comfort, Intimacy, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Scars, Self-Esteem Issues, Soft Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist, Soft Martin Blackwood, Tenderness, Touching, Walks by the River, soft, they're in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winter_hiems/pseuds/winter_hiems
Summary: Jon knows that Martin doesn’t like burn scars, so he’s careful to avoid touching Martin with his burned hand. Eventually, Martin notices.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Comments: 7
Kudos: 173





	come closer (show the marks upon your skin)

Since the world had been set right, he and Martin had got into the habit of walking by the river every day. 

They both loved it; the chance to just be a couple. Walking because they enjoyed the view, not because they needed to get to the Panopticon or to Hill Top Road. No hurry. Just the two of them taking a moment together. 

They had walked as far as they wanted to that day, and were turning to walk back when Martin suddenly switched sides, and reached for Jon’s right hand. Jon pulled his hand away, turned, and held Martin’s right hand with his left. 

Martin frowned. “You know you always do that, right? You always make sure I’m walking on your left. Except – no, not always. But most of the time. I thought I was just being weird, but you… that was deliberate. What is it, Jon?” 

Jon tried not to look down at his right hand and instead keep his gaze focused on Martin. “I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” 

“Uh – what would make me uncomfortable about walking on your right?” 

Jon found his next words coming out very quietly. “You said that you hate burns. That they scar horribly, and they make you sick.” 

“I –” Martin’s lips parted, and he looked down at Jon’s burned right hand. Jon knew what he was seeing; the palm and the insides of the fingers were all scar tissue, not to mention the print of the thumb and four fingers on the back of his hand. “Oh, Jon. I am so, so sorry. I was being thoughtless, and – and stupid, and I didn’t think about what that would mean to you, and –” 

“It’s alright,” said Jon. He swallowed. “You’re not obliged to find every part of me attractive.” He flexed his bad hand. It worked fine these days, but it had taken over a month to heal, and the scar tissue couldn’t feel things quite the same way as normal skin. 

Martin held Jon’s right hand in both of his, palm up. “I feel awful.” 

“It’s just a scar,” said Jon, but they both knew that wasn’t all it was; it was Jude Perry, hurting him for the fun of it. It was a mark from the Desolation, and without it, the world wouldn’t have ended, however temporarily. 

Slowly, Martin raised Jon’s hand to his mouth. He kissed Jon’s fingertips, then tipped Jon’s hand up so that he could kiss the palm. The damaged nerves left everything feeling half-numb, but it still felt… it felt… 

“Martin, you don’t have to do this,” Jon breathed. 

Martin lowered Jon’s hand, but kept hold of it. “Jon, I don’t want you to feel like any part of you is ugly to me.” 

“… It’s not like the rest of me is much better. I’ve got – got quite the collection.” Even aside from the many, many other scars, Jon knew that he looked at least a decade older than he actually was, and his hair now had more grey in it than black. He sighed. “I try to accept the way I look, I really do. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s –” he gestured to himself with his free hand, “this.” 

“Hey,” said Martin, releasing Jon’s hand so that he could cup his face, “You know I think you’re beautiful.” 

“Yes, and I’m very lucky that you do.” 

They kissed, a soft brush of the lips. “Please let me hold your hand,” said Martin gently. “It won’t make me uncomfortable – it’s you. I don’t want you to have to dance around me just because you’re worried about something like that.” 

“I… alright.” 

So Martin took Jon’s right hand in his, rough scars under his palm, and then the two of them were walking back home as slowly as they liked.

**Author's Note:**

> Kings of healthy relationship communication.
> 
> This fic relates to Martin’s aversion to burns and burn scars which he talks about in MAG 169.
> 
> The reason why Martin notices that Jon only walks on his right most of the time is because Jon was okay with Martin walking on his right as long as they weren’t holding hands. When they held hands, he was careful to make sure that Martin didn’t hold the burned one.
> 
> I didn’t want this fic to be about Jon not liking his scars until Martin changes his mind. This is more about Jon acknowledging his appearance, which he doesn’t always feel good about, and also worrying that a specific aspect of it will make Martin uncomfortable, until he finds that this isn’t the case.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome <3
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. I am not making money from this work.


End file.
